Development cooperation between the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

(EU) and the countries of the

African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States The Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) is a group of countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific that was created by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975. Formerly known as African, Caribbean and Pacific Group ...

(ACP) started in 1957 with the

Treaty of Rome The Treaty of Rome, or EEC Treaty (officially the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community), brought about the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC), the best known of the European Communities (EC). The treaty was sign ...

, which first established a collective European development policy. The Treaty of Rome granted associated status to 31 overseas collectivities and territories (OCTs) and provided for the creation of a

European Development Fund Global Europe, officially the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI), is the financial arm of the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union, which provides funding for the European Neighbourho ...

(EDF) intended to grant technical and financial assistance to the countries which were still under European rule at the time. More significantly, however, by means of the Treaty of Rome the six

member states A member state is a state that is a member of an international organization or of a federation or confederation. Since the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) include some members that are not sovereign states ...

of the European Economic Community were expressing solidarity with the

colonies In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...

and OCTs and committed themselves to contribute to their prosperity. The EDF has to date been funded outside the EU budget by the EU Member States on the basis of financial payments related to specific contribution shares, or “keys”, which are subject to negotiation. The EDF is currently the only EU policy instrument that is financed through a specific key that is different from the EU budget key, and which reflects the comparative interests of individual Member States.

Main actors

The European Union

Beginning in 1957 (Rome Treaty) a group of 6 nations in Western Europe, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, created the European Economic Community (EEC). These member states were gradually joined by others through various waves of enlargement and became the European Union.

The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States

Similarly to European expansion, at the time of the Treaty of Rome, there were a limited number of nations involved. Beginning with 18 countries and territories that had special relations with the member states, the so-called Associated States gained membership, eventually establishing the group known as the

History

The Yaoundé Agreements

The first cycle of the EDF was designed for a period of five years and took effect in 1959 (now in its 10th cycle and with a budget of €22.7 billion).Mikaela Gavas 2010
Financing European development cooperation: the Financial Perspectives 2014–2020.
London:

Overseas Development Institute ODI (formerly the 'Overseas Development Institute') is a global affairs think tank, founded in 1960. Its mission is "to inspire people to act on injustice and inequality through collaborative research and ideas that matter for people and the ...

As it drew to a close, however, many of the OCTs had regained independence and new arrangements were necessary. In 1963, representatives of the EEC Member States and 17 African countries and Madagascar met in Yaoundé, Cameroon, to sign their first partnership agreement in history. The group of

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed Industrial sector, industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is al ...

which signed the final agreement were granted preferential trade arrangements such as the

duty-free A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, w ...

access of specified African goods into the European market. In addition, it was agreed to continue support via the EDF and the European Investment Bank (EIB) (p. 29). In 1969 the agreements made in the first

Yaoundé Convention The Yaoundé Convention was a convention signed in the city of Yaoundé, Cameroon between the European Economic Community (EEC) and the AASM (Associated African States and Madagascar) in 1963 (ASMM (African States, Madagascar and Mauritius) i ...

were renewed by the second Yaoundé Convention which lasted until 1975. One of the most important aspects of Yaoundé was its foundation on the recognition of

national sovereignty Westphalian sovereignty, or state sovereignty, is a principle in international law that each state has exclusive sovereignty over its territory. The principle underlies the modern international system of sovereign states and is enshrined in the Un ...

of all participating countries. It was furthermore not only unprecedented in its form but also unique in its comprehensiveness, covering aspects from financial and

technical assistance Development aid is a type of foreign/international/overseas aid given by governments and other agencies to support the economic, environmental, social, and political development of developing countries. Closely-related concepts include: developm ...

(through the EDF) to investment and capital movements (through the EIB) to

trade preference A trade preference is a preference by one country for buying goods from some other country more than from other countries. It grants special support to one country over another. It is the opposite of a trade prohibition. For example, the Agreement ...

s. The structure established in Yaoundé remains the framework for many aspects of ACP-EU cooperation until today.

The Lomé Conventions

The Yaoundé II Agreement expired in 1974 and was succeeded by a new Convention, signed in and named after the capital of

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its ...

Lomé Lomé is the capital and largest city of Togo. It has an urban population of 837,437

. The establishment of a new preferential trade agreement instead of a continuation of the old one was incited by both unsatisfactory outcomes of the previous arrangement as well as changes in the European political framework. From the

’ point of view, the call for new negotiations was prompted by the strong neo-colonial aspects which were still detectable in the Yaoundé Agreement and the disappointing economic results it had produced. From a European point of view, the development strategy experienced a shift from a regional to a more global approach with the introduction of the

Generalized System of Preferences The Generalized System of Preferences, or GSP, is a preferential tariff system which provides tariff reduction on various products. The concept of GSP is very different from the concept of " most favored nation" (MFN). MFN status provides equal tre ...

(GSP) in 1971. Simultaneously, the accession of the United Kingdom to the European Community in 1973 meant that the

Francophone French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the ...

focus of development policy was soon shifted to include the developing countries of the

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the ...

. The

Lomé Convention The Lomé Convention is a trade and aid agreement between the European Economic Community (EEC) and 71 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries, first signed in February 1975 in Lomé, Togo. History The first Lomé Convention (Lomé I) ...

was an attempt to rectify the inefficiencies created in Yaoundé and to address the various points of criticism it had been subjected to. As a result of the enlargement and in line with the more global development policy of the EC a group of African, Caribbean and Pacific countries joined forces to enter into negotiations. The Agreement was signed after 18 months of negotiations in February 1975 by the nine EC Member States and 46 developing countries which became formally known as the

ACP countries The Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) is a group of countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific that was created by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975. Formerly known as African, Caribbean and Pacific Group ...

. Although colonial ties with Europe remained to be a decisive factor for the new signatories’ participation, the composition of the group of developing countries showed a slow diversification of European development policy and therefore silenced some of the voices which had criticised the selective approach of Yaoundé.

The Cotonou Agreement

The relationship between the

(EU) and the ACP group changed significantly during the 1990s. The historical ties which had been the most prominent features of earlier agreements had been eroded and the ACP countries’ importance to the EU was diminished. In the light of the completion of the Single Market Programme in 1992 and due to the end of the Cold War, the EU had turned towards development issues which were a bit "closer to home", namely in

Central and Eastern Europe Central and Eastern Europe is a term encompassing the countries in the Baltics, Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Southeast Europe (mostly the Balkans), usually meaning former communist states from the Eastern Bloc and Warsaw Pact in Euro ...

. Although the relationship between the EU and the ACP countries was continued it was marked by the changing political situation of its time. The wave of democratization which reached many developing countries after the end of the Cold War led to a previously unknown politicization of development cooperation. Additionally, the continuing absence of the economic rewards expected from Lomé, its continuing incompatibility with

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is a legal agreement between many countries, whose overall purpose was to promote international trade by reducing or eliminating trade barriers such as tariffs or quotas. According to its ...

(GATT)/

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and ...

(WTO) provisions and the complexity the Lomé Conventions had assumed were reasons why a new agreement was drawn up in

Cotonou Cotonou (; fon, Kútɔ̀nú) is a city in Benin. Its official population count was 679,012 inhabitants in 2012; however, over two million people live in the larger urban area. The urban area continues to expand, notably toward the west. The ci ...

, the capital of

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the nort ...

. The

Cotonou Agreement The Cotonou Agreement is a treaty between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States ("ACP countries"). It was signed in June 2000 in Cotonou, Benin's largest city, by 78 ACP countries (Cuba did not sign) and the ...

is the latest of the PTAs between the EU and the ACP group. It was signed in June 2000 by 78 ACP countries and the EU-15. It is designed to last for a period of 20 years and is based on four main principles: partnership, participation, dialogue and mutual obligations, and differentiation and regionalisation. Building on the experience of nearly 40 years of development cooperation, the Cotonou Agreement introduced some important innovations. One of the most significant changes was the introduction of a political dimension to EU-ACP development cooperation. This aspect of Cotonou has been subject to some of its fiercest discussion and criticism because it linked development cooperation to

conditionality In political economy and international relations, conditionality is the use of conditions attached to the provision of benefits such as a loan, debt relief or bilateral aid. These conditions are typically imposed by international financial insti ...

. Respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law have become so-called "essential elements" the violation of which can lead to partial or total suspension of development aid. Conditionality is one of the issues which have been considered to be undermining the principle of equal partnership on which Lomé was based. Another important innovation of the Cotonou Agreement was the acknowledgment of the

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.private sector The private sector is the part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The ...

as an essential element to foster economic development, represented in the principle of participation. Therefore, provisions were included at Cotonou which ensured the participation of

non-state actor A non-state actor (NSA) are organizations and/or individuals that are not affiliated with, directed by, or funded by any government. The interests, structure, and influence of NSAs vary widely. For example, among NSAs are non-profit organizations ...

s in ACP countries in the policy process of their respective state. Furthermore, the Cotonou Agreement put more emphasis on regional integration within the ACP group and especially in Africa. The most radical change which the Cotonou Agreement implied was the establishment of the so-called

Economic Partnership Agreements Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) are a scheme to create a free trade area (FTA) between the European Union and other countries. They are a response to continuing criticism that the non-reciprocal and discriminating preferential trade agree ...

(EPA's) which are scheduled to take effect in 2008. The Cotonou Agreement came to an end in 2020 and the ACP Group is of 2012 studying options for its future beyond this state. Other independent experts such as the

European Centre for Development Policy Management The European Centre for Development Policy Management, more commonly known as ECDPM, is a think tank founded in 1986. It is headquartered in Maastricht, Netherlands and has a second office in Brussels, Belgium. ECDPM researches Europe-Africa r ...

(ECDPM) have also offered ideas on options for the ACP Group's future after 2020. There were negotiations for the 11th

, proposed to cover the period 2014–2020. This one-year extension compared to the 10th EDF allows the end of the 11th EDF to coincide with the expiration of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement.Kilnes, U., N. Keijzer, J. van Seters and A. Sherrif
More or less? A financial analysis of the proposed 11th European Development Fund (ECDPM Briefing Note 29)
Maastricht: European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM)

References

*Babarinde, O.A. (1994). ''The Lomé Conventions and development''. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Limited *ECDPM. 2002. ''Cotonou Infokit''. Maastricht: ECDPM. Retrieved on July 19, 2006, fro
www.ecdpm.org
*The Cotonou Agreement. (2000). Retrieved on June 16, 2006, from
European Union website
*Holland, M. (2002). ''The European Union and the Third World''. Basingstoke tc. Palgrave *Nello, S.S. (2005). ''The European Union. Economics, policies and history''. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill Education

External links

European Centre for Development Policy ManagementACP SecretariatACP-EU development newsACP-EU Policy Development BriefingsACP-EU Trade websiteACPCultures+ ACP-EU Support Programme to ACP Cultural SectorsAfrican Voices on ACP-EU Aid Effectivenesswebsite on EC development for ACP countriesIndependent European Development Portal'The Courier': The magazine of Africa-Caribbean-Pacific and European Union cooperation and relations
{{DEFAULTSORT:ACP-EU development cooperation Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States European Union foreign aid